THE RUSSIANS ARE HERE

摘要

When we think of Russian pnotography, the names Rodchenko and El Lizzitsky come to mind-after that we stumble across consonants and go blank. But names such as Alexander Slyusarev, Boris Savelev, Elena Darikovich, and Boris Smelov ought to be as familiar to us as Larry Fink, Martin Parr, Andrea Modica, and Mary-Ellen Mark. When the Berlin Wall fell in 1989, photography deabrs quickly snapped up the Rodchenkos, the Baltermants, and the El Lizzitskys—ignoring the work of contemporary Russian photographers. The market created from that early sweep left a discouraging gap of value between what was perceived as "collectable" and therefore economically important—typical of the western capitalist mind—and the neglected, yet profoundly important and interesting underground photography born of decades of artistic repression in the Soviet Union.